Remus and Romulus
by SilverRiverPhoenix
Summary: Here I am, hailing from denial land. Instead of the Dursleys Harry is picked up from the train station by Remus Lupin and taken to spend the summer with him.


A/N For Lizzi, for everything. 

Harry Potter allowed a small sigh to escape his lips as he departed the Hogwarts express at platform nine and three quarters. _Another summer with the Dursleys _he thought miserably _and Sirius…Sirius. It came as a shock to him then that when he looked up instead of the beefy face of his repulsive Uncle Vernon; Professor Lupin was standing on the platform waiting for him, with what appeared to be a golden retriever standing by his side. _

The smile that had started to cross Harry's at seeing one of his father's closest friends disappeared to be replaced with a look of pure disgust at seeing the dog by his side. He froze in the middle of the platform, staring blankly at Professor Lupin and his canine companion. Ron appeared at his side.

"Harry, what's….oh" 

Ron followed Harry's gaze to the two standing on platform before them. 

"What is this" Harry muttered irritably "some kind of sick joke?"

His eyes widened in surprise as the huge golden dog came bounding towards him, knocking him flat to the floor before practically drowning him with saliva. 

"Eeeoargh" Harry yelled, shoving the beast off his chest. 

Professor Lupin appeared behind the golden dog and pulled him off Harry by the scruff of its neck before muttering fiercely to it. 

"There'll be time for that later, cut it out"

Harry glared up at Professor Lupin angrily and was rewarded for his efforts with a pleasant smile.

"Come on Harry, Dumbledore's given permission for you to stay with us for the summer"

Harry gave him a tight smile "I'd rather go with the Weasleys"

Ron and Ginny moved to stand on either side of Harry protectively, each reaching under an armpit and hauling him to his feet. 

"Oh dear, I thought you'd be like this about my uhh new companion, there'll be explanations later, I promise Harry and if those don't satisfy you then we'll make other arrangements alright? But up until then you're coming home with me" 

Harry opened his mouth to reply scathingly, but was swept into an abrupt hug by Mrs Weasley who had just appeared to collect the remaining two children she had at Hogwarts. 

"Hello Harry dear, I heard you were going with Professor Lupin  - " 

" – please Molly, it's Remus"

"Very well, well I hope you'll come to stay with us later in the summer, we're always happy to have you dear, come along you two, we've got to get moving, your brothers'll be home soon"

And with that she'd bustled Ron and Ginny away without even supplying them with the opportunity to apologize for leaving him there. 

Harry turned for Hermione to offer him some support, but she was walking in the other direction with her parents, chattering animatedly. 

"I suppose I'll have to come with you then" Harry muttered grudgingly and followed Professor Lupin from the platform. 

The house they arrived at was small, but well tended, surrounded by a myriad of coloured flowers. Remus glanced around him furtively before opening the front door, casting a charm over his shoulder as he walked in. Harry almost forgot he was angry when he stepped inside. The inside of the house was huge. The kitchen, dining room and lounge room all lay open in an open plan, with an ornate staircase winding its way upstairs. The ceiling was high with thick mahogany beams supporting it. 

Remus smiled at Harry "your room's just upstairs, first on the left."

He cast a quick charm on Harry's trunk so he could manage it on his own and moved into the kitchen. Harry glanced up at the stairs and grabbed his trunk and began to mount the wooden staircase. He noted with annoyance that the dog seemed to have decided to follow his every move. He kicked at it with his foot, but it just wagged its tail and gave him a distinctly doggy grin. 

Hary sighed resignedly and trudged up the stairs. His room wasn't hard to find, it was the first door he came to and had an H engraved in the door handle. A broom and Snitch were engraved on the main panel of the door itself. Harry pushed the door open tentatively and let out a gasp of astonishment as the room inside was revealed. A four-post bed stood in the centre of the room, with its head resting against the wall. Deep red bedclothes were made up on it. It had Snitches engraved around the wooden beam running around the top of it. Occasionally one of them would flutter its wings, giving Harry the distinct impression that it was about to take off. A carved wooden desk sat beneath a large double window, a set of quills and a couple of Quidditch magazines sitting on the desk itself. It matched the bed, with snitches running around the edge of the desk. A matching chair sat before it, the cushioning the same deep red as the bedclothes. A large trunk sat at the foot of the bed and when Harry opened it, it revealed a complete Quidditch set, complete with a book on how to charm trees into Quidditch goals. A bookcase stood on the opposite side of the room, stuffed to bursting full of books, the topics ranging from _The hows and what-fors for the avid Quidditch Player, by Thomas Pierson to _Making Mischief – the troublemakers guide, by Alan M. _Harry noted with a wry smile that none of the books contained on the bookcase had anything to do with schoolwork, and there wasn't so much as an O.W.L or a N.E.W.T between the whole lot of them. One book that especially caught his eye was __The Wizards Guide to becoming an Animagus – written by Jacob Evans. Evans? Harry wondered, …could it be? But Evans was a common enough name. He flipped the cover of the book open and read the inscription._

_To James,_

_I heard about Remus and your quest to become Animagus and I found this in our attic last spring, my grandfather had written it and I thought it might be some help to you._

_Lily_

"It was at my house that night, that's why it wasn't destroyed."

Harry turned sharply to the owner of the voice. Sirius Black was standing before him grinning like a lunatic. Harry frowned and backed away from the figure of his godfather. 

"but…you're dead"

"Dead? It would take a lot more than throwing me behind some veil to kill me!" he puffed up his chest proudly "after all I am the only person to ever have escaped from Azkaban."

Harry grinned and threw himself at his godfather knocking him to the ground. 

A cough sounded in the doorway and Harry untangled himself from Sirius to grin up at Remus Lupin. 

"Couldn't keep transformed long enough for me to join in the surprise could you Sirius?"

 Sirius hung his head in mock shame. Harry's eyes just darted back at forth between the two men. 

"You were the…?"

"Golden retriever? Yes"  
"But you're a black dog!"

"Honestly Harry, I'm disappointed in you, haven't you heard of a simple glamour before?"

Harry grinned happily "and this is my room?"

Sirius looked at Remus before fixing his gaze on Harry "do you see any other seekers that have a name that starts with "H" around here?"

"Well…no…but you did all this for…me?"

"Your dad had been planning your room since he found out your mum was pregnant, it was the least we could do to make his dream come true, even if he did want Quaffles everywhere. Besides, you've never had a proper room before and it was about time you had one."

"Does this mean…..?"

"-you never have to go back to the Dursleys" Remus finished for him "we've had all of your belongings brought here"

"But what about the….?"

"- Protective wards? Dumbledore came around especially and between the three of us we've made it safer here than you ever were at the Dursleys"

"But what about the…..?"

"Weasleys? We've done the same for them"

"Would you quit doing that!"

Remus smiled "I'll leave you two to catch up, we'll eat soon alright?"

Sirius gave him a toothy grin "you're the boss"

Harry frowned and looked up at his godfather "but aren't you still on the run? Is it safe for you to live at a fixed address?"

Sirius sat down on Harry's bed "well technically yes, but the manor here has been made virtually unplottable, is situated in a quiet town and has a glamour permanently fixed on it so to passers by that are muggle it looks as if an elderly lady lives here alone."

Harry raised one of his eyebrows slightly at this "so is it you or Professor Lupin that they think is the old lady?"

Sirius gave a chuckle at that "you know Harry boy, I'm not actually sure"

"But that still doesn't mean you're completely safe does it?"

"We actually had another idea as well" he extended one hand and put on a very fake but proper English accent "pleased to meet you, I'm Romulus Lupin"

Harry burst out laughing "how will that work? You look nothing like Professor Lupin!"

Sirius shook his head in mock disbelief "I would have thought by fifteen you would have realised there are ways to get around that!"

Harry just stared at Sirius blankly. Sirius sighed and headed straight for the bookshelf. He plucked one of the books from the shelf and opened in front of himself on the bed. He gestured at Harry.

"Do you think I could borrow your wand for a minute?"

Harry looked slightly disbelieving but handed his wand over anyway. 

Sirius spun his finger in a circle, gesturing for Harry to turn his back. He did so, however resignedly. 

A sudden cough behind him caused Harry to spin back around abruptly. Standing before him where Sirius once had been was a man that one could only mistake as a relative of a Professor Remus Lupin. There were only subtle differences in Sirius' appearance, a slight change in the shape of his nose, and the colour of his eyes and the size of his ears, but the overall image that came from him was definitely not that of Sirius Black. He cleared his throat and when he spoke, instead of the extremely unconvincing accent that he had spoken in before, the clear tones of an Englishman brought up from a proper, upper class family spilled from his lips.

"Hello Harry, I'm most awfully honoured to make your acquaintance, Romulus Lupin at your service."

Harry managed to last a full five seconds before bursting into peals of raucous laughter.

"You will never….pull…..that off" he managed to gasp at Sirius before collapsing on the floor in a fit of laughter. 

Sirius looked hurt and glared at his godson, but on catching sight of himself in the mirror hanging on Harry's wall he couldn't help laughing too. "Romulus Lupin" was about as far removed from Sirius Black as you could imagine. He retrieved Harry's wand from its place on his bed and muttered a few incantations at himself again. His hair grew slightly longer, darker and more dishevelled and his eyes regained the sparkle that usually resided there. He turned to Harry expectantly. 

"Well? Better? I could always be the black sheep of the Lupin family. 


End file.
